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You don't happen to have a vague especulation on what you have and still need to do, obviously some in modeling and the scripting/debugging, but in what else and in what quantities do you expect you still need to do?

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Models, Sub Levels, Code, Voices, effects, ect. The game will actually use a lite version of the core RD codebase. There's also going to be a desktop executable, unlockable content, and a ton of new things (combat effects, weapons, ladders, emitters, projectors, and more...if we can juggle it all). I also am pushing for a functional Achievements system similar to contemporary games, a first for Unreal SP. Most of this stuff works, it's just the last bits of subleveling and model work that's taking most of our time. I'm mapping, Diamond is modeling/animating with help from Kaka, and Raven's debugging all the crap I'm dumping on him (making a functional melee system, human adversaries that aren't bots and are as distinctive as Skaarj or Krall).

In a lot of ways DC is going to be a testrun of how I want to present Residual Decay.

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Conceptual grandness =/= huge open maps. DC is pretty much teeming with conceptual grandness (I still think this is a hilarious term). It's one of the most unique mods I've ever seen made for ANY game engine.

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Dead Cell being a mini RD is a good idea, it practically gives people an RD taster, which is needed as I guess it's going to be a long wait for RD itself. Also, achievement systems are cool, it gives you more reasons to replay the game and also gives you a sense of... achievement.

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LOL_Peantus wrote:rom the screenshots, it looks like the arena is going to be a lot like a deathmatch map, with little space for conceptual grandness. I do hope I'm mistaken.

Waffnuffly wrote:Conceptual grandness =/= huge open maps. DC is pretty much teeming with conceptual grandness (I still think this is a hilarious term). It's one of the most unique mods I've ever seen made for ANY game engine.

If DC looks a little like a Deathmatch situation in the screenshots then it's probably because of three reasons;

1. The game uses the Kraden set exclusively, which is (as far as I know) a first in Unreal SP. The set is normally associated with Multiplayer levels (although I personally find its potential for a distinct SP game alluring).

2. The screenshots show some UT guns, such as the Impact Hammer and Chainsaw. I think people see these weapons and just automatically get that Unreal Tournament image stuck in their head.

3. The premise can be misleading...

The screenshots show rooms and hallways with the same theme in each. This is really a consequence of how Dead Cell is made. You are inside a series of confined chambers (a maze of sorts), all of a nonspecific origin. There is no sky, no windows, and no sense of what lies beyond the walls and ceilings. That is really the point. This may not lend so well in terms of screenshots (which is why there isn't many), but I assure you...the nature of the gameplay could not be farther from the style necessary for deathmatch.

Yes, the description of the game reads like this, "you play in an enclosed arena with several other human characters and you have to fight each other in a no holds barred." Yeah that sounds a lot like Deathmatch, doesn't it? I'm sure showing screenshots of bots and UT weapons doesn't help how the picture is painted. There's really no way I can remedy this until the current batch of content is ready for public consumption (including a trailer possibly). No amount of screenshots can really convey just how this thing is going to be. I've taken the liberty to expand on the style some on the website, under the Dead Cell section, but I guess everyone thinks I highlight the title as some kind of subliminal form of viral marketing

Legendslayer222 wrote:Dead Cell being a mini RD is a good idea, it practically gives people an RD taster, which is needed as I guess it's going to be a long wait for RD itself. Also, achievement systems are cool, it gives you more reasons to replay the game and also gives you a sense of... achievement.

It's that, yes. Replay value. But it's also because there are different ways you can play this, and the difficulty filter is really different from what Unreal players are used to. You start off with only two unlocked difficulty tiers; easy and hard. The other two have to be obtained (or to say it better, earned). One difficulty is unique in that it prevents you from saving your game (meaning you have to play the whole game in one shot without dying, in true survivalist fashion). This provides a lot of ways to grade the player for how they perform, keeping track of their styles, behaviors, their inventory consumption and how those items or used, or not used. But I generally like the ones that go above and beyond. I don't particularly like games that hand out Achievements as if they were handing out "Good Effort!" ribbons at the Special Olympics. You all know what I'm saying...getting a pat on the back for opening a door for the first time or simply for playing the game in any capacity. I'd like to present a list of Achievements for DC (and for Residual Decay, when the time comes) that actually ask the player to...you know...achieve stuff. For example, beating the Facility level in GoldenEye on 00 Agent is all well and good. But beating it on 00 Agent in under one minute and twenty seconds to unlock the invincibility cheat...the game's coveted "hardest" unlockable...is an act worthy of gloating.

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Here's a WIP sample of what the DC menu is going to look like. We're adopting the classic Unreal style, with this going over a flyby.

EDIT: Just to clarify, the two vertical backdrops are actually the one backdrop, while both images represent graphical changes between pages (options, difficulty, ect). That was probably clear, but I explained it anyway.

Last edited by Mister_Prophet on 22 Mar 2010, 23:20, edited 2 times in total.

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We basically adapted it into every facet of the story and interface, yeah. It's just a unique set to use for a SP (not to mention unconventional), and over the course of the development it's come to represent Dead Cell itself. I want players to feel like they can't escape the yellow. Plus, it helps that nobody has even thought of touching this set yet for SP.

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We basically adapted it into every facet of the story and interface, yeah. It's just a unique set to use for a SP (not to mention unconventional), and over the course of the development it's come to represent Dead Cell itself. I want players to feel like they can't escape the yellow. Plus, it helps that nobody has even thought of touching this set yet for SP.

You'd better release it, then, before somebody else desides that it would be a great idea to do so.